He contributed to many standard encyclopedias, published voluminously and in 1922, under stressful political conditions, conducted digs on the shore of the Euphrates at the previously unknown site of Dura-Europos; he published his research there in 1926. He was a member of most of the European academies. In 1936 Franz Cumont was awarded the Francqui Prize on Human Sciences. In 1947, Franz Cumont donated his library and papers to the Academia Belgica in Rome, where they are accessible to researchers.
His works include
- Texts and Illustrated Monuments Relating to the Mysteries of Mithra (1894-1900, with an English translation in 1903) is the study that made his international reputation, by its originality and massive documentation.
- Les religions orientales dans le paganisme romain (1906, widely translated)
- After-Life in Roman Paganism, lectures delivered at Yale University, published in 1922, was cautiously expressed, but it corrected many false impressions of pagan rite that Christian apologists had made.
- Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans (available in a Dover reprint)
After his death, critics of his interpretation of Mithras as the descendant of the Iranian deity Mithra began to be heard, and surfaced at the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies in Manchester England, 1971. Modern interpretation of Mithras as the astronomical bull-slayer have continued to move away from Cumont's interpretations, though his documentation remains valuable.
In 1997 the Royal Library, Brussels, observed the fiftieth anniversary of Cumont's death appropriately, with a colloquium on syncretism in the Mediterranean world of Antiquity.
External links
- Academia Belgica: Franz Cumont (in Dutch)
- Academia Belgica: Franz Cumont (in French)
Works by Cumont online
- Mysteries of Mithra, by Franz Cumont (English translation) at sacred-texts.com
- The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, by Franz Cumont (English translation) at sacred-texts.com
- Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans, by Franz Cumont at sacred-texts.com
Critiques
- David Ulansey, "The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras" David Ulansey's zodiacal interpretation of Mithraism
Other References
- Bongard-Levine, Gre/gory, Corinne Bonnet, Yuri Litvinenko, and Arnaldo Marcone (edd.), Mongolus Syrio Salutem Optimam Dat. La correspondance entre Mikhai+l Rostovtzeff et Franz Cumont (Paris: De Boccard, 2007), Pp. xvi, 364 (Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 36).
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Last updated on Monday September 22, 2008 at 17:31:38 PDT (GMT -0700)
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